Diversity Matters

Why Care About Diversity?

“For more than 100 years, public education has helped to shape the backbone of growth and progress in North Carolina. Our public schools have tackled some of the greatest challenges of a state successfully making the transition from a farm and manufacturing economy to one based on technology, services and education.

A major accomplishment that may be attributed to the public schools is the successful desegregation of our society and the civility we enjoy every day. The public schools, and especially our classroom teachers, served on the front line as we marched through the barriers of races and class to overcome a history of separate and unequal educational systems.

Today, public schools thrive in our state as academic standards continue to increase and more students achieve proficiency than ever before. Our public schools continue to serve a unique role in fostering unity and strength within communities. The choice before us now is whether we will renew a commitment to diverse public schools for the benefit of all children and the larger community.

I urge that each of us become actively involved in understanding the value of healthy and diverse public schools that succeed with all children. Our commitment to diverse public schools is a commitment to each other and to the future of North Carolina.” – the late William C. Friday, President Emeritus, UNC

“The more time both black and white students spend in desegregated elementary schools, the higher their standardized test scores in middle and high school, and the higher their track placements in secondary school. Desegregated schools have better material and human resources.” – Dr. Roslyn Mickelson, UNC-Charlotte

“Even with a judicious use of salary differentials specifically designed to promote equity, the more segregated are the schools, the more unequal is likely to be the quality of teachers across schools.” – Dr. Helen Ladd, Duke University

“Student achievement…has been clearly shown to fall as the poverty level of a school rises. A consistent, forty-year body of scientific studies confirms that children who attend high-poverty schools face considerably higher risks of lower academic performance, whatever their individual academic potential. In fact, middle –income students who attend high-poverty schools earn lower average test scores than do low-income students who attend middle class schools.” – U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics

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Diversity doesn’t undermine high quality education—it enhances it. ALL students learn more in settings with peers from other racial, ethnic, and social class backgrounds. Diverse classrooms prepare students for citizenship and employment in a multiethnic, democratic society, promoting greater educational and occupational attainment and less involvement with the criminal justice system.

Adults who attend integrated K-12 schools are more likely to choose to: